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Interview With Phil Mossman

Phil
Mossman is a composer who has worked with artists like U2 and Jon Spencer Blues
Explosion and he worked on Stephen Soderburgh’s
Out Of Sight and Oceans 11. He
was also a member of LCD Soundsystem and
took part in the band’s legendary final performance that was captured for the
film Sut Up and Play the Hits. Mr. Mossman is a very busy man and was kind
enough to take part in this interview. I contacted him to discuss his work on
the film We Are What Are.

Thank you so much for taking the
time to do this.How are you today?

I am
building a new studio in Dumbo Brooklyn and have been waiting for the telephone
guy. I hope it starts ringing once he
plugs it in.

Where are you from?

London,
England.

When did you discover music?

Before
I was born my Mum was a mod and she got a job with Motown when they did a UK
review. One of her jobs was to lead
Stevie Wonder onstage. When I was 4 or 5
she got me one of those suitcase record players and gave me all her 45s. Later I got a reel-to-reel and started
recording stuff. I think it all grew out
of that.

When did you start creating your
own music and what style was it?

I
wasn’t until the UK post acid house scene came along when I thought wow, music
is in the hands of the people again. I
was too young when punk exploded and the 80s were all about big studios and
record labels which seemed impossible to aspire to. When Primal Scream’s Screamadelica came out
my head exploded. It had elements of
everything that I loved about music, psychedelic, punk, soul, dub, and
rock. My mate Jagz Kooner and I started
making tracks in his parent’s garage and later we joined the Sabres of
Paradise, which was Andrew Weatherall’s band.
Andrew was responsible for much of Screamadelica so I’ve always been
quite in awe of him. He still makes
amazing records.

What film composers if any would
you consider to be an influence on your work?

I’m
going to go with the artist who has had the most direct influence on my life
and development as a musician who is David Holmes. We worked together for about five years and
did our first film together, “Out of Sight,” directed by Stephen
Soderburg. David is a force of nature
and I miss him a lot. I would work with
him again in a heartbeat, he can whip a session into frenzy like no other. I also admire Cliff Martinez, his scores have
a lot of depth, soul and imagination.

How were you brought on to do the
score for We Are What We Are?

The
producer of the film Nick Shumaker brought me on very late in the game and
there was a Sundance deadline so there was a lot of late nights.

The score is a collaboration
between yourself and Darren Morris with Jeff Grace. What was it like to work
with two other composers on this project?

It
worked out great. As I mentioned it was
an insane deadline so I was happy to share the load with some great
talent. Some of Jeff’s cues had been on
the cut for some time, I believe that some scenes were actually filmed with his
music playing on set. I never met Jeff
but his work is outstanding. Darren is
an old friend and possibly the most gifted musician I have ever met. I knew there was going to be a big role for
piano so it was a no brainer for me to get him involved. I frequently cry when he sits at the piano.

The music you wrote for the film
much like the film itself is both beautiful and unnerving. The opening theme
perfectly sets up the tone of the film, the solo piano while quite pretty hints
that something is deeply wrong with what we are about to see. Did you have a
specific emotional reaction you were looking for with that piece?

I love
that cue. Case in point that’s Darren
working his magic at the piano. The temp
music was actually quite ominous. I
suggested to Jim Mickle that perhaps we shouldn’t blow our cover at the top of
the film so we focused on scoring the coming of the storm. The storm plays such an important role in the
movie and the way Darren’s playing comes out of the raindrops gives me shivers.

The Drive to Tire Iron is an incredibly
ominous piece of music that could completely stand alone but when placed
against the scene its truly unsettling. It has this low-pitched drone
juxtaposed with a high pitched squeal that feels like a siren. How did you
create it? What instruments were used to make it?

That
scene is a turning point in the film where your starting to realize that there
is something seriously wrong with this guy.
Nothing really happens but there is an incredible amount of tension. It starts with an eerie whir that is one of
those kid’s toys that you spin around your head and it changes pitch how fast
you spin it. The low drone is the OB8 in
the DFA studio, which still has character even at such low frequencies. The metallic squeals are a Waterphone which
you bow and the water bends the pitch.

Frank Chases the Kids had an
almost Tangerine Dream or John Carpenter quality that I didn't notice until I
listened to the soundtrack on its own. While I was watching the film it fit the
scene perfectly and it in no way called attention to itself but it really was
quite different from anything else in the score. Was this by design?

I was
definitely channeling Assault on Precinct 13 and TD on that cue. Jim said go big so the challenge was to do
that in an interesting way. I was using
a lot of analog synths throughout so I used the power of the MKS80 and a real
TR909 to shake some seats.

I love the music in that film. Not
the best Carpenter film but goddamn it has great music. The Death Waltz reissue
of it is beautiful. What are you working on now?

I
worked on Mike Cahill’s movie I Origins this year but right now I’m finishing
up the sound treatment for the new studio.
I need to finish it this week.

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